


time can never mend the careless whispers of a good friend

by stefonzolesky



Category: The Waiting Game (1999)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, I'm not tagging relationships because none of them Actually get together but, M/M, crushes r heavily implied pining is outright stated and it's just all around a good time, not a great resolution but I think that fits the form of the movie just fine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-29
Updated: 2018-03-29
Packaged: 2019-04-14 12:53:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14136447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stefonzolesky/pseuds/stefonzolesky
Summary: (to the heart and mind, ignorance is kind. there's no comfort in the truth, pain is all you'll find.)





	time can never mend the careless whispers of a good friend

**Author's Note:**

> honestly? the only unrealistic thing about this movie was the fact that this was a friend group of struggling actors/other performers (i'm pretty sure shannon was a model? i might be wrong.) but only one of them was gay. most theater kids are a little gay, and actors are just theater kids that made it. the whole friend group from the waiting game is disaster bi (except joe he's distinguished gay) thanks for your time.

one 

dan doesn’t consider himself to be overdramatic. he considers himself to be… just dramatic enough. he keeps his thoughts to himself and only throws fits when he’s entitled to them. which he feels is at least once a day.

at this moment in particular, though, he’s feels that more entitled to a breakdown than he’s ever been. 

lenny is the one who finds him after his girlfriend breaks up with him. and for once, lenny doesn’t think he’s being overdramatic either. 

“you’re fine,” he says, and for some reason, dan believes him. it’s something in his voice, or something in the way that he can  _ tell _ that lenny means it. it’s new ground in their friendship, but it’s nice. it’s nice to feel one-fucking-hundred percent supported by your friend.

for once, dan doesn’t feel the need to say anything. he doesn’t think it’s important to respond, so he just sits next to lenny, and he thinks. he thinks about how lenny says it’s okay and how lenny believes it’s okay and how that means it  _ must be okay.  _

“hey,” lenny finally says, sotto voce. dan lifts his head from lenny’s shoulder. “you’ll get over her.”

dan pauses. his tongue darts out to wet his lips. “i guess.”

his head somehow finds its way back to lenny’s shoulder, and lenny is ready with some half hearted joke about moving on from his girl too quickly. dan shrugs and leaves it at that.

he doesn’t remember falling asleep.

 

two

joe has a motto. a rule, if you will. never let yourself end up broken hearted if the love came from nowhere. it’s an odd saying, and it might be too specific, but he tries to live by it. 

that being said, he can’t say whether or not he’s broken that rule. sometimes he still thinks about the night he spent dancing with derek, and the look on derek’s face when he realized what he had done.

shannon is the only one who really knows. she and joe talk about it over drinks one night, after dan has left waiting tables for good.

“i know how you feel,” she promises him. “i know what it’s like to love someone who can’t love you back.”

“lenny?” joe asks. “if you’re talking about lenny, i think it’s a little obvious that he likes you. just because he couldn’t get it up once--”

shannon cuts him off with a laugh. “it’s not… lenny. it’s not him. i thought that maybe he would… fill the gap, or something.”

“if you and i have any kind of similarities in our situation, that would never work.” joe takes a sip of his drink. “you just have to wait it out. don’t pin it on someone else to fill the gap for you. wait until you’re ready to move on. that way, it hurts less.”

“i take it derek never came around?” shannon tries to lighten the situation a little. “it’s a shame. he’s really missing out.”

joe shrugs, and rather than taking the time to think about derek, he changes the subject. “so, who’s your guy?”

“it’s not…” shannon hangs her head. she laughs out something bitter and cold. “it’s andi, joe.” she presses her lips into a thin line. “i’m in love with andi.”

joe glances over at her and offers her some of his drink, which she takes gladly. “welcome to the club, girlie,” he says. “it's a long life for people like us.”

 

three

sometimes derek thinks that lenny is lying to him. other times, derek  _ knows _ that lenny is lying to him.

the difference is really all in how derek handles himself in situations like that, because lenny always thinks that he’s convincing derek. he thinks that derek is naive and will listen to anything that anyone tells him, true or not. and while he may be right, for the most part, derek knows he’s smart. he knows how to tell a lie from the truth.

“i’m not gay,” he tells lenny again. lenny shrugs and takes a sip of his beer, so derek continues. “you were wrong. i have a girlfriend now.” he pauses, suddenly feeling the need to prove that fact to his friend. “her name is cynthia. i taught her how to dance at dan’s going away party.”

“yeah, i saw you with her. i still don’t think i was wrong, though,” lenny says. he digs through his pockets for a cigarette and lights it. “like i said before, most guys have gay thoughts, it’s just whether or not a guy acts on them that matters in the end.”

derek laughs weakly. “but you’re not included in ‘most guys,’ right? you’ll never admit that you’ve had gay thoughts before.”

“of course not,” lenny deadpans. “and, hypothetically, if i  _ was _ gay, you'd be the first to know. i can promise you that much.”

derek thinks lenny is lying to his face, but he doesn't know what he's supposed to say, so he just sighs and goes back to refilling bottles of ketchup.

 

four

the diner is quieter, after dan leaves.

the group still spends nights sitting on the balcony, taking turns locking up, but everything feels a little empty without him. lenny leaves a space between him and andi like he’s expecting someone else for months after.

derek is sent to deal with the customer that dan always took care of, and lenny has never seen him so frustrated in his life, looking like he could crack any second. joe offers to take the table next time, something reserved in his voice that lenny can’t quite place.

he tries not to dwell on it too much, instead focusing on getting his job done. that’s what he’s supposed to focus on in the first place, and thinking about the differences in the air just makes that so much harder.

lenny still stays with andi and shannon, but it’s weird, because ever since the whole… situation blew over, both girls have been treating him differently. less like a potential boyfriend, more like just some guy that they know. not that he hates it or anything, it’s just that he isn’t used to it. he always flirted with both of them, though he never once intended on dating andi.

overall, dan’s leaving hits everyone hard. everyone pairs off, which usually leaves lenny cleaning glasses at the end of the day while he watches his friends hang out.

(aside from joe, who claims he has to leave before clean-up every day, usually around the same time that cynthia shows up. lenny figures something might be up there, but he doesn’t want to intrude, so he never asks.)

 

five

shannon finds that living with both andi and lenny is challenging, especially now that she knows what she wants.

they’re usually both asleep by the time she gets home. andi typically falls asleep watching tv, while lenny can be found with a bag of chips in his bed. shannon makes it a habit to cover andi with a blanket before she goes to bed.

andi never mentions it, and shannon doesn’t bring it up either. maybe she assumes that lenny is doing it, even though lenny has never been that caring even  _ once _ in his life.

joe quickly becomes shannon’s confidant. they hang out at bars and drink until their problems seem insignificant.

sometimes, shannon wishes that she could just date joe and be alright. they both agree it would be better, but the universe seems to have a sense of humor when it comes to things like that.

so, in the end, shannon is left getting drunk like she’s never gotten drunk before a couple of days out of every week and tucking andi into bed when she gets home like a fucking loser.

she decides that it’ll have to do for a while.

 

six

dan finds that life away from the diner is a lot lonelier than he thought it would be.

he loves getting to play this big role as something scary, and he gets to scream out all of his frustration whenever he wants, but he can’t help but miss his friends. he keeps a torn piece of paper with lenny’s note on it in his wallet.

_ dan, _

_ there’s more to life than acting… _

_ i only wish i knew what it was. _

_ don’t blow it, _

_ lenny _

sometimes, he likes to think about what everyone might be doing at the diner, and he always ends up angry every time he realizes that lenny is probably back with merris. it’s stupid, and he doesn’t know why it makes him so mad. maybe he just believes that lenny could do better. he doesn’t want to think about it any more than he already does, so he never tries to figure it out.

he knows he needs to finish his job before he goes back to visit, so he tells himself he’ll go back after, but months pass by and he finishes up, and then gets another job offer. so more months pass and more months pass and his schedule just… fills up. he never has a break.

it sucks, but he makes do.

 

seven

“when do you think dan will visit?” lenny asks andi a couple of months after dan leaves.

andi sighs. “i already told you, i don’t know. why are you so caught up with the idea of him coming back? let him live his life, lenny.”

lenny shrugs helplessly. “it’s just all weird without him, y’know? everything feels… empty?”

“you in love with him or something?” andi laughs. lenny feels his heart drop to his stomach.

“of course not,” he says. his mouth is dry. “why would you say that?”

andi stares at him for a second. “i was joking?” she sits down at the bar across from him. “get me a beer.”

“i just closed up,” lenny tells her.

andi rolls her eyes and repeats herself. “get me a beer.”

lenny gets her a beer and he gets himself a beer, too, and they drink in silence until the door opens, which signals the nightly change between cynthia and joe. derek greets her at the door. lenny watches them with a bottle to his lips, and he sighs against it.

“lovesick idiots,” andi mumbles under her breath, tracing lines in the condensation on her own bottle. “derek should know better than anyone that nothing works out perfectly.”

“cut him some slack,” lenny says, sotto voce. it feels out of character for him, but he says it anyway. “the kid has been through some shit recently.”

“what, and you sympathize with him?” andi raises her eyebrow.

lenny shrugs. “maybe a little bit,” he admits. “i don’t really know anymore.”

 

eight

derek thinks that if he should confide in anyone, it should probably be cynthia. cynthia is sweet, she’s understanding, and, well, she’s his girlfriend. that being said, it’s probably shitty of him to confide in shannon over her.

“you’ve been spending a lot of time with joe?” he asks her. he doesn’t know why he asks, but she’s sitting right across from him for some reason while he tries to fill the ketchup bottles.

she nods, helping him hold a bottle steady. “why do you ask?”

“no reason,” derek says. pause. “he’s been avoiding me.”

“i know,” shannon admits. the conversation falls to a stop. derek accidentally knocks over a bottle and instead of powering through like he usually does, he lets out a groan of frustration and puts his head in his hands. shannon watches him for a second and then pursues the conversation. “why do you mention it?”

“i don’t know, it’s just…” derek shrugs. weak. defeated. “i guess i freaked, or whatever, and i don’t want him to ignore me. it’s on me that i got scared and ran off on him--”

“you got scared?” shannon interrupts.

derek pauses. “...yeah. i got scared. something happened, and i ran off on him, and i’m really mad at myself about it.”

“does cynthia know what happened with him?” shannon presses further. derek freezes up, biting down hard on his lip.

“no,” he admits. “but i take it you do?”

it’s not exactly a shock to derek; shannon is generally privy to what goes on within the group. she’s always been the most interconnected -- her and lenny, anyway. it catches him off guard for some reason that he can’t exactly place. maybe it’s the fact that joe has been talking to her about what happened, but can’t seem to face derek without someone else around.

shannon nods and goes back to helping him balance ketchup bottles. there isn’t another word exchanged. there doesn’t need to be.

 

nine

lenny finds himself spending a lot of time with merris again. she isn’t happy about it, sick of cleaning up his messes and waiting for him to find jobs and listening to him complain, but lenny thinks that she might have secretly missed him.

he shows up at her door and she answers it without a word, silently fixing him a plate of the dinner she made for herself that night.

“sorry,” lenny says. instinct.

“i told you’d i’d be here.” merris’ voice is flat. “i have no right to be mad at you for taking me up on an invitation.”

pause. “living with andi sucks.”

merris hesitates, her back turned. “why? i thought you liked her.”

lenny sits down. silence hangs in the air, heavy. “i do, i mean, she’s one of my best friends. it’s just--”

“--nothing ever happened between you,” merris interrupts. “but you feel like it should have.”

“that’s not what i meant,” lenny claims, indignant. merris turns to look at him, finally taking a seat. “the whole… group dynamic has been off, since dan left. we’re all really jealous of him, upon… other things.”

merris bites her lip. “why are you here, then?”

lenny shrugs. “i needed something familiar?”

“if you’re here to try and get back together with me, the answer is obviously no,” merris tells him. lenny can tell that she’s fed up with him, and that he should probably just leave, but he doesn’t.

he stabs a fork into the food in front of him angrily. “i’m stressed out, all the fucking time.”

“is it because of dan?” merris asks.

“no,” lenny snaps. he falters. “yeah. i don’t know. probably?”

merris smiles sadly and leaves him to his food.

 

ten

dan comes back to visit around the same time that the group gets used to his absence. he sits at a table alone, and instead of making a big deal about his return, he waits for someone to notice him.

derek waits on him, and derek is pretty bad at noticing things, so he only realizes that it’s dan halfway through the order. he drops his notepad and runs to the back. dan frowns.

luckily, his disappointment doesn’t last long, because before he knows it lenny is crashing out of the back and to his table. dan stands up to greet him, a stupid smile on his face as he holds out hand for lenny to shake, but his hand is promptly ignored in favor of a bone crushing hug.

dan takes in a sharp breath and mutters, “i missed you,” without thinking about it. his throat feels dry.

lenny buries his face in dan’s neck and whispers, “i missed you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> if u read this good fuckin job. nobody knows this movie. god bless.


End file.
